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CDFA Data Resources

Data mapped by PolicyMap, an online GIS mapping tool.
Building Data Capacity

As part of our mission to support community economic development across New Hampshire, CDFA assembles and uses relevant demographic, fiscal and other data, along with public input, to help guide planning and funding priorities, particularly for the federal Community Development Block Grant program. This commitment is articulated in CDFA’s Living Strategic Plan:

CDFA looks to meet communities’ self-articulated goals, while fostering more coordinated, long-term thinking about the broader needs of communities on a statewide basis. CDFA will increasingly provide its technical and financial resources to all communities, large and small, and notwithstanding the varying capacities of communities.

To advance this goal, in 2019 CDFA embarked on an initiative to update its data collection, analysis and visualization capacity. CDFA engaged the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute (NHFPI) and a fellow from the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire to analyze possible data sources. The recommendations served as the basis for creating a set of 13 Community Progress Indicators (CPIs) to help illustrate socioeconomic issues across the state.

Community Progress Indicators

CDFA’s Community Progress Indicators are intended to assist in measuring socioeconomic well-being and community need at the municipal level in New Hampshire, including Basic Human Needs, Access to Opportunity, and Community Sustainability and Vibrancy. The CPIs also enable towns, cities, and counties across the Granite State to have ready access to up-to-date data and information about their community’s needs, issues, strengths, and challenges.

The CPIs are updated annually, with new data released in December of each year.

Download additional information about the CPIs here:

In 2021, CDFA worked with PolicyMap to create a tool that displays each of the indicators on an interactive map of New Hampshire. You can view your community/county and how it compares to other communities in your area or across the state.

How to Use the Map:

  • The map above shows the estimated population of each New Hampshire community.
  • Click the orange NEW MAP button at the top-left corner of the map to view a menu of CPI categories (Basic Human Needs, Access to Opportunity, Community Sustainability/Vibrancy). Click on one of these categories to show a list of indicators in that category. Click the ‘BACK’ button to return to the CPI categories.
  • Click on any indicator to see a map of the data (some are by municipality, some by county).
  • On the map, click on any community/county to see indicator value for that place. (Within PolicyMap, a town or city is called a ‘County Subdivision.’)
  • In the legend (upper right-hand corner of the map), click on the small ‘i’ for a brief description of the indicator. View detailed information on each indicator in CDFA’s Community Progress Indicators Data Dictionary.
  • To enlarge the map to full-screen view, click on the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of the map, or click HERE.

More information on how to use this map is HERE.

In addition to CDFA’s Community Progress Indicators, Policy Map also has a wealth of other information and data about your community. Go to www.policymap.com and explore!

Core Data Index

CDFA’s Community Progress Indicators also form the basis for a ‘Core Data Index’ (CDI) that helps define the overall socioeconomic needs of each New Hampshire municipality. An algorithm of CPI data points calculates a score for each city/town on a scale of 0 – 70, with 70 representing the greatest combination of socioeconomic challenges. The Core Data Index score is incorporated into the overall project-scoring system for applications to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. It also helps inform CDFA’s work to advance its strategic priorities and guide allocation of resources to the places that need those resources the most. View the Core Data Index Scores for 2024. View the historical Core Data Index 2019-2024.

Local Economy Indicators

In 2020, the Hannah Grimes Center (a long-time CDFA program partner) received funding to collect and analyze a set of meaningful data relevant to entrepreneurship across New Hampshire. Led by staff at NHFPI and with input from stakeholders, this project created a useful set of Local Economy Indicators at the County level, including data on jobs and employment, wages, business and industries, labor force size, and other key metrics. The indicators and related analysis (showing trends over time) will help local and regional organizations provide well-tuned support to individual entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurship ecosystem. View the presentation on New Hampshire Local Economy Indicators.

COMING SOON! CDFA is working with PolicyMap to create a map of some of the Local Economy Indicators.
Other Data Resources

Links to other organizations that have useful data to support community economic development:

New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute

YourEconomy.org

NH EPSCOR—Data Discovery Center